Warning: Don't drive through the Arches in Italy

On the way back from Montepulciano, my FIL and Opa decided to take a quick road trip around the town of Sienna, since it was on the way back to our villa.  First, let me show you the van we were in:

The back of our Villa.  That lady in the door was the housekeeper and very nice!

It was an 11 passenger van, so it was quite large.  It was, in fact, the size of a daycare van.  (I should know--I grew up in daycare.)

Anyway, we were in this bus, driving around Italy, on the tiny streets.  Well, as we entered Sienna, traffic was going every which direction and people were everywhere.  People were yelling at us in Italian, honking at us, cutting us off, etc.  As we are about to enter into Sienna, we come to a stop light, and right after the light, there was a BEAUTIFUL arch way (like the one in Montepulciano).  My FIL yelled "Which way do I go" and Opa yelled back "GO STRAIGHT!".  At that moment, I said "WOW, we get to DRIVE through this?" 

Foreshadowing, anyone?

Well, here we are in a big arse van, driving on the cobblestone roads of Old Sienna.  I've already told you how narrow the roads where, so that means there was room for about 2 people to walk on either side of our van as we bumped along. 

To make a crowded road even worse, the University had just let out, so there were kids everywhere filtering out of the University buildings.  So, we continued on.  My FIL is saying the whole time "I don't know where to go, it's crazy crowded here".  People on the streets were giving us the meanest looks.  I can only imagine how they thought we looked "7 Americans in a huge van...driving on these roads". 

About that time, my BIL pulled out his Rick Steve's Italy travel book, flipped to Sienna and read aloud:

"Sienna is surrounded by arches that indicate you are entering city center.  You should NOT drive through these arches, as only local residents with special passes are allowed in.  If you should find yourself within the city walls, you should expect a fine to great you on your doorstep when you return home from your Italian vacation.  The fine for driving within the walls of Sienna are steep and will vary, depending on how many cameras pick up your license plate."

Oh, I wish I was joking, but it was almost comical.  All at once, we realized why we'd been given dirty looks--we weren't supposed to be there.  Just at that moments, a cop pulled us over and started yelling at my FIL in Italian. 

Here's what I heard:

Cop: "blah blah blah" hands waiving like crazy

FIL: I'm lost

Cop: "Ugh, YES, blah  blah blah lksjdfljdf

He then proceeded to tell us to turn left at the next turn and "get the hell out of here" as my FIL said.

We turned left, and found ourselves here:

Piazza del Campo

The absolute center of town, in the main square, Piazza del Campo.  Please take notice that there are NO OTHER CARS here.  We drove right along that road in front of the church, with thousands of onlookers watching the "Stupid Americans".  I have to say, it was so cool turning that corner and entering the main square.  It was beautiful.

Piazza del Campo: our view from the van

I'll show you more pictures of Sienna tomorrow.  The next morning, my BIL, SIL, hubs and I all went back to explore Sienna, but this time, by foot.

PS- In case you were wondering, my FIL still hasn't gotten a ticket / fine in the mail yet.  Fingers crossed it doesn't come.

Exporing Italy: Day 4

On day 4, we woke up bright and early, ready to start really exploring Tuscany.  My FIL and OPA decided we should head South to a small village, Montepulciano. 

The drive was beautiful, but I was completely unprepared for the beauty I was about to discover. You see, Montepulciano sits 605 meters high on a ledge, so there are spectacular views from any edge of the city.   

Many of the old villages in Tuscany are old fortresses, and Montepulciano is no different.  Also, there is no commuter driving into the town because the roads are so narrow.  To enter the town, we had to walk through this huge entry way.

Here's the view when looking through the Arch entrance.  It's hard to see here, but the roads were very steep, so to get to the center of town, we had to walk UP.

Of course, I had to get a shot of my FIL, looking dashing.

I tried to get a family shot to show persepective of just how narrow the pathways were.  From left to right, my FIL, OPA, S-i-L, B-i-L, MIL

I loved the knockers on these doors! All the doors in this town had cool details like this!

Beautiful Architecture!

The Hubs walking to see the amazing view overlooking Tuscany!

Here's the view.  Hello Heaven!

As I was window shopping, I came across this poster.  Totally excited, I ran back to my family yelling "OH MY GOSH, THEY FILMED PART OF TWILIGHT: NEW MOON HERE!"  Such an unexpected, amazing surprise!  

NEW MOON POSTER

So, I just happened to take a picture of this building in the center of town.  When I got home and googled "New Moon, Montepulciano", I found the picture 2 below, which was taken during filming of New Moon.  Wow, the red banners really bring out the beauty of this building!

Are you ready for the funniest part of our time in this village?  The picture below says it all! 

I think we all know that Europeans love to drive little cars.  Where do you think SMARTCARs came from?  Well, as the Hubs and I were wandering around, we found this car.  Yes, someone really drives this car.  I got my HOT husband to pose with it to give you perspective!  It's the length of his wing span!

I don't know why, but this is seriously one of my favorite picture from the WHOLE trip. 

Tomorrow, I'll tell you about one of the funniest things that happened on this trip.  Check back to hear all about my Father-in-Law getting stopped by a police officer in Siena!

Back to Italy- Days 2 & 3

So, back to our Italy trip! 

After we left the Alps, we made the 5 hour drive South to Tuscany.  I don't remember much of the drive because I slept for the better part of it.  (Blame it on the jet lag!)  We made it to Florence in record time, and with only 30 more minutes of the drive, my FIL triumphantly declared "We're going to be there right on time!"  Ohh, the foreshadowing of that statement is quite ironic.  What happened next was straight out of a horror movie....or Vegas Vacation. 

If you've ever driven in Italy, you know they love round-a-bouts.  And as you are going around these intersections, you are expected to find your correct exit (while going in circles) and rocket-launch out of the circle.  Well, we got lost.....very lost.  No kidding, we went round and round and round in 1 circle for a good 10 minutes while my FIL yelled "WHICH EXIT" and I kept saying "THAT ONE" to the one with the correct sign, but then he'd pass it....again...and again....and again.  Everyone else was yelling out their 2 cents and trying to keep from throwing up.  Finally, he yelled "I'm getting the hell outta here" and spun us out of the circle----in the wrong direction...which took us directly into another circle. 

In the words of Opa, "Mama Mia".  By the time we finally got back on track, it was even later...and we all had to go to the bathroom. 

Seriously, all the signs were this confusing...WHICH WAY?

Things only got worse as we continued driving through Tuscany...in the dark.  I went to look at the directions we'd printed out, and they didn't take us to the Villa.  They stopped in the town NEAR where the villa was located.  OH CRAP!  At this point, it'd been 2 hours.....2 hours when we were only 30 minutes away.

To make a long drive story short, we finally made it, 2 hours later.  Oh well, we were there and happy to finally be out of the van.  I wish I had pictures of the drive, but sorry, it was pitch black and I was dizzy from the round-abouts.  After a fantastic dinner prepared by Chefs, we all went to bed, exhausted from the journey. 

The next morning, after an amazing night's sleep, we woke up to this:

Paul in the Villa's front yard, looking out to Radda.

A close up of Paul with
Radda in the background.

Posing with the town of Radda in the background

Our Villa - simply Amazing!

We spent the rest of Day 3 exploring and enjoying the Villa.  We were expecting my sister-in-law & brother-in-law, as they flew to Italy a day after us, so we stayed close to home base and our cell phones--just in case they experienced the same "fun" we had in the round-a-bouts.  It was nice to have a day to just wander around because after several days of flights and driving and sitting, I definitely needed the exercise! 

The name of the villa was Villa Vistarenni.  It's located about 2 miles from Radda, in the Chianti region of Tuscany.  Check out more pictures of the villa here!

Tomorrow, I'll share our day 4 with you!  We went to a little town where part of the TWILIGHT series was filmed!!!!!